Carrot Tops
by Eraserhead
Summary: Arthur/Molly fic. The story of how the two met, fell in love, and evetually married. FLUFF WARNING!


Carrot Tops 

_Author: _eraser.head

_Rating:_ PG

_Category:_ Arthur/Molly

_Disclaimer:_ I definitely don't own anything Harry Potter. Loosely based on "The Most Mature Thing I've Ever Seen" found in one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. (If you do know which one, please e-mail me or review and I'll give the book and author proper credit.)

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Prologue

"And that's how my parents met," Hermione finished. She had just finished telling Harry and Ron the elaborate story on how her parents had met, fallen in love, and married. Ron and Harry, both with elbows on the table and drooping heads in their hands, were desperately trying to keep awake during her hundredth retelling of the tale. "Hey!" she cried, "Are you boys listening?" She clapped loudly in their heavy-lidded faces. They startled and Ron almost fell off his chair. 

"Isn't it romantic?" Hermione sighed. This is the way she always ended her story. 

Ron raised one eyebrow. "Oh yeah," he said, "Well, my parents' story is much better than yours. They met here, you know? In Hogwarts when they were both First Years." 

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Chapter 1 

Molly didn't know where she was headed. She had taken the wrong stairs and was trying to go back to her previous landing, when the whole staircase shifted and transported her to another unknown floor. *Where am I going?* she thought to herself. She was already 10 minutes late for Potions. She had heard from other students that Professor Surlina Snake was a killer. 

----- 

"Hinderbumpkin!" Professor Snake called. "Has anyone seen Molly Hinderbumpkin?" She wouldn't start the class with any absentees so Arthur rolled his wand between his hands idly as the minutes ticked by. The door suddenly burst open and a frazzled looking red haired girl stumbled into class. "I'm so sorry," she practically wailed. "The stairs decided to move and then I got lost and finally a Fifth Year had to bring me to the right floor!" She was out of breath and her face was almost as red at her hair. 

"Enough!" the Professor said forcefully. "Miss Hinderbumpkin, you are 20 minutes late to class. 50 points from Gryffindor and Saturday detention." Molly slunk slowly across the front of the classroom. She felt all the eyes of all the students on her as she made her way to her seat. 

The last thing Arthur remembered was a flailing mass of arms, legs, red hair, and books crashing onto the floor in the middle of the center aisle. He saw Lucius Malfoy and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, chuckling behind their hands. Arthur was almost positive that Malfoy's shiny boot had been the cause of Molly's catastrophic fall. He looked toward the front of the classroom where she was frantically trying to pick up all of her books, but she kept stepping on her robes and fell all over again. No one was helping her and she looked to be on the verge of tears. Her face was splotched and even redder than before. The more she tried to pick herself up, the more materials slipped out of her hands and onto the floor again. 

"That is quite enough, Miss Hinderbumpkin," Snake said. "Return to your seat at once!" Every time Molly stumbled again, Snake kept taking points from Gryffindor. Never mind that Malfoy had caused all the trouble, Snake cast a blind eye toward him because she was head of the Slytherin House. When a girl in the first row got up to help Molly, Snake got upset. "Don't anyone help Miss Hinderbumpkin. She can manage perfectly well, can't she?" Snake sneered. 

Arthur couldn't take it anymore. The poor girl was distressed and her eyes were filled up and tears were on the brink of falling. He stood up and walked down the aisle toward her. "Mr. Weasley, sit down!" Snake called out. He didn't care anymore, he ached for the embarrassment that she must be going through. He continued toward her. He bent down and started stacking her books in a nice pile. "100 points from Gryffindor! Mr. Weasley, be ready to serve 2 Saturday detentions!" Snake screeched. Arthur placed a hand under her arm and helped her slowly to her feet. He gestured for her to sit at his table. By the time Molly settled into her seat, the class was almost over. 

Molly was so grateful to him that she couldn't even meet his eyes. "Thank you," she said, sniffling. "I not usually that clumsy." She promptly dropped her wand and almost fell off her stool. Arthur smiled. He stuck out his hand. "Arthur Weasley," he said. She shook his hand. "Molly Hinderbumpkin."

-----

Molly made her way to the dining hall for dinner. By that time, the whole school knew of her gawky escapades in Potions. They also knew that Arthur had helped her, going against direct orders by Snake. She made a late entrance and everyone turned to stare as she made her way to the last remaining seat at the Gryffindor table: the seat next to Arthur. 

The dining hall was silent as she sat, rather self-consciously, next to him. "Aww! Look at the cute couple of Carrot Tops!" sing-songed Malfoy from his Slytherin table. Arthur didn't even seem to notice the commotion. He had his nose buried in a book: Muggles, a History. 

  
Principal Dumbledore stood up from his seat. "Dinner will be over in 15 minutes," he announced calmly. The chatting and noise immediately quieted as students tried to eat their fill before dinner was cleared. 

Molly looked at Arthur's plate and noticed that he had hardly touched his food. He was too busy reading. She wanted to be his friend after what he did for her back in Potions so she tried to make small talk. 

"So …" she started. "What're you reading?" She knew perfectly well what book it was. The lettering on the cover was in gold.   
  
Arthur looked up. He looked surprised. "Oh, when did you get in?" he asked politely. He didn't allow her to answer. "I'm reading Muggles, a History." He showed her the cover. "Did you know that muggles in American have one man named The King? I actually, thought that he was a monarch and then confused myself because I was almost positive that America was a democracy. Then I figured out that The King is just a nickname and that his real name is Elvis Presley. He's a rock n' roll singer. I don't know what that is yet, but when I do I'm gonna listen to some of it." He was giddy with excitement. "He does this thing when he performs. I'll have to look up 'pelvic gyration', but it drives the ladies wild!" His eyes were shining and he was eager to tell her more. It was obvious that muggle studies were his passion. 

Molly smiled. "Really?"  She followed him up to the Gryffindor common room and listened while he recited more muggle factoids. 

-----

Molly sat tiredly on the sofa in front of the fire in the common room. She didn't notice the other girl sitting on the opposite end. Molly smiled at her. "Hi, I'm Molly," she said. 

The girl with auburn hair and green eyes looked up from her studies. She smiled back. "Hi," she said. "I'm Lily Evans."  Just then the portrait hole burst open and four boys climbed in. 

"Hey!" a tall, dark-haired boy said. "That's one half of the Carrot Top couple." Molly flushed crimson. Lily stood up. "Don't talk to her like that!" she said. She patted Molly's arm in reassurance. 

A fair-haired boy with kind eyes stepped forward. He smiled. "I'm sorry for my idiot friend's behavior," he said softly. "I'm Remus Lupin." He pointed to a green-eyed boy with wild black hair and crooked gold glasses. "That's James Potter." He pointed to a pudgy boy with small eyes. "That's Peter Pettigrew." He turned to the boy who had called her Carrot Top. "And last but not least, the idiot named Sirius Black." Sirius scowled as Peter, James, Lily, Molly, and Remus laughed. 

"Hi," Molly and Lily said. All six of them turned to see the portrait hole open slowly. Arthur strolled in, still reading his book. He ignored the group of them and made his way to the boys' dormitory, oblivious to that fact that he was the center of everyone's attention.   
  


"There's the other half!" Sirius said with glee. 


End file.
